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US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met for dialogue over the revival of the US based "Roadmap to peace" document. The three reaffirmed their commitments to peace, but as expected no real progress could be made due to the failure of the Mecca deal to abide by the Quartet's (EU, US, UN, Russia) three principles. It has also been announced that Israel may press for a meeting between the US, Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinians.

Quote: "Following the meeting it became known that Israel is weighing the possibility of a summit with Jordan, Egypt, the Palestinians and the Americans, in order to continue the diplomatic dialogue. Diplomatic sources stressed that if such a meeting materializes, it will not include a discussion over controversial issues such as Jerusalem, the refugee problem, and the withdrawal to the 1967 lines.

Israel has already brokered peace agreements with both Jordan and Egypt, and I guess they could put further pressure on Hamas to comply and get the economic embargo lifted. In other news, Turkey has announced its support for the Saudi-based peace initiative, which offers Israel full Arab recognition in return for a withdrawal from lands captured during the Six Day War. So far seven nations have accepted the peace plan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Turkey.

Quote:"The initiative also includes the creation of a multinational Muslim peacekeeping force comprising troops from core Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) member states. Some observers have described it as the creation of a 'Sunni bloc' aimed at curbing Shiite-majority Iran's growing influence in the Middle East.

But I don't believe the Muslims can ever recognize Israel's right to exist, even with 1967 borders. As we have seen, there are Egyptian MPs who believe the war with Israel continues despite their peace agreement. And of course the Bible states that one day, all the nations of the world will gather themselves against Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:2). It also seems that Turkey is continuing to get involved in the conflict in the Middle East. Last week Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan also became involved in the dispute surrounding the construction work at the Temple Mount. And the Bible states were this will eventually lead, Turkey aligning itself with Gog and commencing the invasion of Israel as described in Ezekiel 38-39.